Westfield fire chief urges new stations, four‑person staffing to improve response times

Rob Gaylor, chief of the Westfield Fire Department, told the City Council on the evening of the meeting that an outside study shows measurable coverage gaps and recommended new stations and staffing to meet national standards. “With our current stations and staffing, we meet that 4 minute objective 34.2% of the time,” Gaylor said, and added that bringing Station 84 and Station 85 online would increase that to about 51%.

The study identified three candidate areas for new stations, roughly labeled A, B and C in the department’s maps. Gaylor said adding all three candidate sites would raise the department’s 4‑minute road coverage to about 70.8%; he gave per‑site estimates of roughly 60.7% for A, 60.3% for B and 54.3% for C. He said the study used a 2024 baseline and did not incorporate projects the council has already approved.

Why it matters: the council heard that faster response times and additional on‑scene advanced life support can materially improve outcomes. Gaylor cited survival statistics tied to crew size and capability: “The survival rate for a cardiac arrest increases from 4.6 percent to almost 34.3 percent by having that 4 person, ALS crew there,” and noted additional step gains when ALS‑capable paramedics are present.

Gaylor summarized other study findings: historical call concentration (“hot spots”) south of Station 81, east of Station 2 and around Station 3; an overlapping‑call rate of about 34.3% (the chance a second call will occur while a unit is already committed); and projections showing residential permits that the department used for modeling (the chief said the permit projection figure was compiled before 2024). He described hazard classes used in the study: a “low hazard” as a typical 2,000‑square‑foot house and a “medium hazard” usually representing denser multifamily buildings that require more personnel and resources.

Funding, staffing and standards: Gaylor referenced NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1500 staffing standards and told councilors that the department is hiring and that a recruit class graduating in November would help reach a four‑person staffing model on engines. The study recommends minimum four‑person staffing on engines; Gaylor described performance differences on routine fire tasks — for example, an engine crew of two took about 10 minutes to get water on a fire versus about 8 minutes, 41 seconds with four crew members. He also noted the department’s current Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating of 2 and said staffing and station locations are among the local controls that can improve that grade.

Costs and council context: the mayor asked Gaylor to estimate annual operating cost for a new station; the mayor relayed the chief’s response as roughly $7,000,000 per station annually and said staffing new stations will be a budgeting challenge. Councilors and the mayor discussed pay and retention; the mayor said Westfield has lower firefighter pay than many peers and emphasized the need to staff new stations “with the best talent.”

Community health and training connection: Gaylor said Westfield has a mobile integrated health (MIH) program and an embedded social worker and community paramedic whose follow‑ups removed an estimated 300–500 calls from the emergency dispatch roll in 2024. He cited a county training center expansion — a roughly $32 million investment by Hamilton County — as an important source of future training capacity.

What the council did: the presentation was informational. Councilors asked questions about mental‑health and nonemergency calls and thanked the department and the union for the collaborative data effort. The council did not take a formal vote on station siting at this meeting.

Looking ahead: Gaylor urged continued council support for staffing, timely construction and funding of future stations and for ongoing assessment of growth and call volume as development changes the city’s risk profile.